Anemones
by storywriter30
Summary: Puddle jumping. A bullet. A bouquet of flowers. Future tiva.


**One-shot. **

**Inspired by Anonymous033's prompt. "Tony and Ziva and Ziva's favorite flower." **

**Spoilers: None. **

**Claimer: Mariah DiNozzo is mine. Well, she's Tony and Ziva's, but she's mine too. : )**

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><p><strong>Ah-nem-mah-ny<strong>

Tony cringed as the little girl in front of him jumped in yet another puddle. It was the third one on this block. He caught a glimpse of her pants and saw that they were soaked up past her ankles. Ziva couldn't see her like that. She'd be pissed. He heard her in his head. _She could catch a cold. The pants will stick to her. The jeans will smell. _He shook his head. He wasn't sure why he'd brought her. The sitter had offered to stay late – in light of the circumstance. Abby had offered to spend the night will her. Breena had even sent him text, saying she and the boys would love for Mariah to come over. He declined them all. After all, had the roles been reversed, Ziva would have done the same thing. Anyway, he needed Mariah right now. She was the only thing anchoring him to the ground.

"Mariah," he called to her. She turned to look him, her face illuminated by the overhead streetlight. "No more puddles. Mommy will get mad at me."

"Mommy loves puddles!" And she jumped in to another one.

He sighed and decided that now was not a time when he wanted to try and reason with his three year old, no matter how rational his wife claimed her to be. He ran up behind her and scooped her off the ground, nuzzling her stomach before settling her on his hip.

"Oh, miss Mariah, what am I going to do with you?" he asked.

"I wanna walk," she protested.

He shook his head, "Nah. You're staying here with me."

"No." she squirmed against him and he had to tighten his arm around her to keep her from falling. A wailing Mariah – that was the _last_ thing he needed right now.

"Too many puddles." He said. "You relax or I wont buy you that gum I promised."

She pouted, melting his heart a bit, but stopped moving. He smiled and kissed her forehead. With the arm that wasn't securing Mariah to his side, he opened the flower shop door and stepped inside. He scanned the aisles and looked for something that caught his attention. He'd never gotten his wife flowers that weren't roses before, but today he felt like she deserved a little more effort on his part – it was the least he could do. He turned his head to his daughter.

"What kind should we get her?" he asked.

"Her favorite."

"Mommy has a favorite flower?" He furrowed his brow at her. How did Mariah know that and not him?

She nodded.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Mommy doesn't seem like the type." He wasn't really talking to his three year old anymore.

"She told me."

"Did she?" he asked. He tickled her stomach causing the little girl to giggle, her brown curls bouncing up and down. "Can you tell me the name?"

"They're blue. Mommy used to pick them in _Hi-fah_." She explained.

Haifa. He sighed and shifted Mariah to his other hip. Of course Ziva's favorite flower was in Israel. He should have known better.

Mariah scrunched her forehead. "_Ah-nem-mah-ny_."

"That what they're called?" he asked. He thought he'd heard of those before.

Mariah nodded and he carried her over to the counter. An older woman with graying hair was pruning some roses in a vase. She looked up at them and smiled. "What can I do for you two?" she asked.

Tony raised a brow at Mariah, causing her to giggle again. She looked at the woman and spoke. "Daddy needs Mommy's favorite flower. She got hurt today. Mommy chases bad guys."

Tony laughed and shook his head. That wasn't _exactly_ what he wanted her to say. "What kind of flowers are they, Riah?

"_Ah-nem-mah-ny_."

"Anemones?" The woman asked.

"Blue ones." Tony confirmed.

The woman nodded and then led them to a refrigerator in the back. She pulled out a bouquet of bright blue flowers.

* * *

><p><em> Tony was in Annapolis when his cell phone rang – the ringtone that signaled that it wasn't one of his Probies or the new director or anyone else he might not actually want to talk to right now. This ringtone was reserved for few – the Originals – as he liked to call them. It was Gibbs, McGee, Ducky, Abby or Palmer – he wasn't sure why the Autopsy Gremlin made the short list. It wasn't Ziva – his wife had her own ringtone. <em>

_ He motioned for his female probie to come over and finish interviewing the witness. A Naval Academy student had been found dead in his dorm this morning. He stepped away and looked at his phone. McGee. He answered. _

_ "McGee to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked. He was having a great day. He and Ziva had decided that Mariah was old enough for a sibling this morning and then it looked like this case was going to be open and shut before Friday. _

_ "Uh…Hey, Tony. Not really a pleasure call…" _

_ "What's up?" _

_ "Ziva's at Bethesda. Gun shot wound to the abdomen." Tony froze and just like that his day had gone from great to really really awful. _

_ "What the hell happened? Didn't you have her six? Is she okay?_

_ "She's in triage." McGee said calmly. "And of course I had her six, Tony. We thought there were only two assailants, turns out there were three." _

_ "I want to talk to her – go in there and put her on." _

_ "Tony, I can't just walk in there –" _

_ "McGee make something up! Flash your badge – say it's a matter of national security. Say you'll call the Pres –" _

_ "Tony, they're like… working on her. I don't think she can really talk." _

_ "Damn it!" Tony screamed, causing his team to turn and look at him. "I'm on my way – be there in an hour."_

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><p>Tony parked in the visitor parking lot at the hospital. He got out of the car and opened the back door. Mariah was asleep in her car seat – it was way past her usual bedtime. She was clutching the flowers like she would one of her stuffed animals. He looked at her for a second before unlatching all of her buckles. She really was half him and half Ziva. Her hair was just a shade or two lighter than Ziva's, but her skin was the exact same tone. She had Tony eyes and his unmistakable grin. She whined as he pulled her out of the seat and laid her head on his shoulder.<p>

"C'mon," he whispered, taking the flowers from her. "Let's go see Mommy."

"Tired." She said.

"I know, baby," he ran a hand through her curls, undoing some of the knots. "Me too."

He walked over to the main entrance and once inside, took the elevator up to the eighth floor. He rubbed his eyes. People might think that because of his job, he was used to things like this. And he kind of was – people got shot all the time. He was in Bethesda all the time. But it was different when one of _them_ got shot and when one of _them_ was in Bethesda. It was different when he was there for personal, not professional reasons. And it was even more different – a _whole_ different situation – when it was Ziva.

His stomach dropped again. He had done a good job of pretending that it wasn't Ziva today. He hadn't even seen her yet. It had taken him almost three and a half hours to get down from Annapolis. He wasn't able to leave right after he hung up with McGee, he had responsibilities even though the death had been ruled of natural causes. The kid had a heart defect that he had somehow successfully kept quiet. And then, to make matters worse, he'd hit the rush hour traffic on the way home.

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><p><em> Elevators stopped at multiple floors. He didn't want to wait that long so, instead of taking the elevator up to the fifth floor triage waiting area – he ran up the stairs. He found Abby pacing back and forth. <em>

_ "Abs!" he ran across the room towards her. "Where is she?" _

_ "They just took her in to surgery."_

_"No. No. No. I gotta see her." His eyes darted around the room, looking for a door he could crash through. _

_ "She's going to be okay, Tony. Gibbs and McGee were with her." _

_ "Gibbs and McGee? Gibbs and McGee! Abby! I'm the one married to her, Abby! I should have been there." _

_ She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Tony," she said slowly, "Calm down. I know you're angry, but you can't do anything now." _

_ He sank down into a chair. She was right. He couldn't do anything. He had zero power in her fate. He should have never taken his own team. He would have been here. He would've been there and had he been there, maybe they would of shot him instead of her. "I can't do anything." He mumbled, taking his head in his hands. _

_ Abby sat down in the chair next to him and laid a hand on his back. It was a nice gesture, but it didn't make him feel any better. _

_ "You need something to do, don't you?" She asked. He didn't say anything after a moment and so, she continued. "Go get Mariah, bring her here and bring Ziva some flowers. _

_ "Flowers?"_

_ Abby nodded. "Everyone likes flowers, Tony. Even Ziva. Plus, she always tells me how much she appreciates it when you do stuff like that for her." _

_ "Flowers, okay. I can handle that. I won't go far, though and you'll call me, right? If anything…" He was talking a mile a minute. _

_ "Scouts honor." She held her hand up. "Just don't kill Mariah on your way over." _

_ "Mariah!" His eyes went wide and he looked at his watch. It was close to six and Amy, the nanny, left at six._

_ "Tony, maybe you should stay," Abby said getting up. He had totally forgotten about his daughter. Abby worried he was a little too stressed to be taking care of his three year old right now "I'll go watch her for the night."_

_ "No. No. No. I'll get her." He said, taking off for the door to the stairs. He'd failed Ziva. He wasn't going to fail Mariah. He'd go get her. He'd go get her._

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><p>Tony turned down the east wing of the floor and noticed his team sitting outside Ziva's door. <em>Her<em> team – he corrected himself. They weren't his team anymore. He corrected himself again; his _family_ was sitting outside his wife's door.

"Hey, Riah," he whispered, his lips at her ear, "Look who's over there." He pointed to Gibbs, Abby and McGee.

She perked up a bit, her head flying up and he watched as her eyes landed on the group. "Gibby!" She said. "Abby!" Poor McGee, he went unnoticed to the little girl.

Tony smiled and nodded at her. But then he watched as her face fell again and she laid her head back down on his shoulder. "Where's Mommy?" she cried. "I want Mommy." "Mommy's inside. We're going to go see her right now. Remember what I said?" He asked.

"Can't jump on her or be loud. Mommy doesn't feel good."

"That's right," Tony said, as he reached the group. Gibbs stood up and patted him on the shoulder. He kissed the back of Mariah's head and she flashed a signature DiNozzo grin back at him.

"She's up," Gibbs said, "Groggy, and a little worse for the ware, but awake."

Tony nodded and then went to put Mariah down. He wanted to see what Ziva looked like before he let her in there. He didn't want to scare her. "Nooo!" she whined. "I wanna stay with you. I want Mommy." And he almost picked her right back up and let her come in with him. He _was_ on the verge of tears himself.

"Mariah," he squatted down so that he was at her level, "Timmy wants to tell you some stories first. Then you can come in." He scooped her up and set her on McGee's lap. He patted her head. "I'll be right back."

Mariah nodded and then turned and expectantly faced McGee. Tony hoped _McWriter _could come up with something fast. Mariah would know if he was searching. Tony turned and walked into the room.

He swore if he hadn't known that they'd just fished a bullet out of her, he would wonder why she was there. Besides the nasal-cannula, she looked just like her perfect self. He gently shut the door behind him and watched her chest rise and fall. He pulled a chair over and sat down next to her. He reached for her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back and then opened her eyes.

"Hey there, gorgeous." He said.

"Hi."

Her caressed her cheek before relinquishing a, "You scared me."

"I scared me." She said. "I was worried that Mariah was going to have a single dad.

He laughed and then kissed her forehead. "And we both know that _that_ would not have gone well for her, though I do think that you _can_ get a perfectly good education from just watching movies all day."

"Don't even say such thing. I don't want to die and be worrying about our daughter's lack of education."

"You're not going to die, Ziva," he said. "I wont let you."

She smiled and nodded and he noticed a faint trickled of water make its way down her cheek. "Hey," he said, he stopped it with his thumb. "That's not part of the plan. Don't worry."

"What plan?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"The baby making plan," he whispered. "Remember our _conversation_ this morning."

"I do not remember anything from today." She shook her head.

"No worries, Sweetcheeks, I'll _remind_ you when we get home." By the smirk on his face, she presumed that they hadn't _just_ had a conversation this morning.

Just then, the door burst open and Mariah came barreling in, McGee close on her tail. She ran over and went to jump in bed with Ziva, but Tony intercepted her before she was able to. He held her by the waist.

McGee reached Tony's chair, his hands on his knees, his breathing labored, "I don't know how you ever say no to her." He huffed.

"Mommy, look what me and Daddy brought!" she thrust the now crumpled bouquet into Ziva's hand.

"Good job, Tateleh." Ziva said, she tried to push herself higher up in the bed, but a shooting pain came from her abdomen. She decided that it would probably be better to just stay the way she was.

"I was a little insulted that she knew your favorite flower and I didn't." Tony said.

"She asked." Ziva offered.

"You're making me look bad," Tony said to Mariah, tickling her again. She giggled and climbed back into his arms. She settled into his lap and slapped her hands on his cheeks. "That's okay, Mommy loves you a lot."

"Oh yeah?" Tony asked. He raised an eyebrow and looked over his daughter's head at Ziva.

Mariah nodded. "She told me."

Tony beckoned his daughter closer and then whispered in her ear. She leaned back and looked at him, wide-eyed. She turned to Ziva and a famous DiNozzo grin came across the faces of all three DiNozzos in the room.

"Mommy, Daddy told me he loves you a lot too." Mariah whispered.

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think..<strong>

**P.S. Thanks for the prompt, Soph!**

**P.P.S. Send me (PM) your Mariah pictures and the best one will get mentioned in either a sequel to this or my next story. **


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